I have to say that I was delightfully surprised by the VIU salmon cakes. They contained very little filler, were meaty, flavorful, and perfectly crispy and brown on the outside. For the first time in my life I actually found a fish cake that I enjoyed. Kudos to the culinary students for making and executing this outstanding recipe. My only complaint about the fish cakes has to do with customer service. After giving such high praise for this protein, I hate to complain, but I feel that something must be said. I do not know why, but some odd reason the culinary staff was frying the fish cakes to order, making the wait time in the cafeteria unacceptably long. I was fortunate to be near the start of the queue and only had to wait for four minutes, but my fellow classmates and instructors were not so fortunate. By the time they had received their orders their lunch break was literally half-over. Perhaps the culinary students were frying the cakes to order so as not to cool down the cooking oil too much (which would cause the cakes to fry improperly and become saturated with oil). I doubt that the reason was because the other fryer was being used for the polenta, as the polenta was already fried and waiting under the heat lamps. In the end, however, it was worth the wait for the fish cakes and polenta.
Ah, yes, the fried polenta: crispy on the outside, creamy on
the inside, and a flavor that reminded me of the guilty pleasure that you get
from eating McFries. The fried polenta was wonderful! While it did need a little bit of seasoning (a dash
of salt, if nothing else), it was otherwise perfect and left me wanting more. I am hoping that the culinary staff would
consider putting this item on the menu on a regular basis, as it is worthy of
such an honor. The same goes for the
fennel and orange salad that came on the side.
Fennel is one of those love-it-or-hate-it foods. I stand firmly in the hate category, or at
least I did until I tried this salad.
You see, up until now I had only eaten fennel leaves, and not the fennel
root. The fronds of the fennel plant
have a very strong licorice flavor, which I suppose is wonderful if you enjoy
the taste of licorice; unfortunately, I do not.
In all fairness, I had never eaten fennel root, however. All these years I had assumed that the
licorice flavor of the fennel fronds would carry into the root, but I happily discovered
when I ate this salad that I was mistaken.
The delicate lettuce-like taste of the fennel root surprised me. Additionally, the flavor of the fennel root
was combined perfectly with the orange slices in this salad. I have officially converted and now stand in
the love-it category of fennel root.
Well done, culinary students! This
was one of the best cafeteria meals that I have eaten at VIU to date. I can easily recommend the fennel and orange
salad, fried polenta, and salmon cakes.
Speaking of cakes, for some time now I have wanted to
mention a cake of a different type. And
while this cake may not be for eating, it is quite the display of art. Students and staff on campus are probably
familiar with the various art exhibits in the upper cafeteria, but a lot of
people are not aware that the lower cafeteria has its own art exhibit: wedding cakes. With the exception of the new cakes that were
added to the collection a few weeks ago, these cakes have been on display for
some time now (which is possible, as they are not made of real cake but rather styrofoam
that is covered in fondant, gum paste, and royal icing). As a result a being on display for so long,
some of them are starting to show signs of aging, but they are still quite
spectacular. Special note should be made of the boulangerie cake, a few of the
floral and lacework cakes, the Raggedy Ann and Sock Monkey wedding cake (who
knew that they fell in love?), and the castle cake.
Yes, the castle cake is fit for royalty, and so are the
salmon cakes. I think that if Prince
Philip was an international student at VIU, then he would be quite happy to
make this campus his castle.
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| Fish cakes, fried polenta, and fennel salad |
